Selective type bar and ink pad arrangement



L C. LANE, JR

SELECTIVE TYPE BAR AND INK PAD ARRANGEMENT March 5, 1968 5 Sheets-Sheet, l

Filed Feb. 9, 1966 g 0. il

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ATTORNEY March 5, 1968 c. LANE, JR- 3,371,601

SELECTIVE TYPE BAR AND INK PAD ARRANGEMENT ATTORNEY March 5, 1968 1 c. LANE, .JR 3,371,601

SELECTIVE TYPE BAR AND INK PAD ARRANGEMENT Filed Feb. 9, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. ESL/E C. A/VE Jl?.

A 7' TOR/VE Y United States Patent O 3,371,601 SELECTIVE TYPE BAR AND INK PAD ARRANGEMENT Leslie C. Lane, Jr., Stamford, Conn., assignor to American Cyanamid Company, Stamford, Conn., a corporation of Maine Filed Feb. 9, 1966, Ser. No. 526,194 5 Claims. (Cl. lill- 93) ABSTRACT 0F THE DISCLOSURE Type bars each having all the symbols of a coded system, the type bars being movable to bring a particular symbol into alignment with a printing. surface such as paper on a platen, preferably the bars being raisable as in an old fashioned hand operated printing adding machine. In the rest position, the bars are all aligned the same way and are in contact with a zoned inking pad, each symbol on each bar being in contact with the only one zone on the pad which is inked with a coding ink having present one or more coding components which photoluminesce under ultraviolet light in diierent colors, the particular coding component or combination of coding components constituting the code for the particular symbol. The inks may contain only the photoluminescent coding components which are' ordinarily uncolored and so permit a code which is secret and which does not require that the symbols be shaped. Preferably the symbols are shaped and if desired pigment may be present in each zone of the inking pad so that symbols may be recognized visually as well as byy examination under ultraviolet light.'

The symbols are selected by keys, which in the preferred case raise each bar to the height corresponding to the particular symbol. Moving the bar up first moves it out of contact with the inking pad and then raises it. When all of the bars have been raised to their particular selected heights, printing is effected by bringing in contact the aligned symbols, either by moving the bar as a whole or preferably with bars having each symbol on an individual hammer, by moving the hammer only. The keyboard is then cleared for another series of symbols.

Background of the invention In the co-pending application of Freeman and Halverson, Ser. No. 596,366v filed Oct. 14, 1966, which is a continuation-in-part of an earlier application Ser. No. 437,866, led Mar. 8, 1965, and now abandoned, both applications being assigned to the assignee of the present application, there is described a process for recording symbols in coded inks, the inks being composed of one or more photoluminescent compounds. The photoluminescent compounds preferably include at least one com'- pound, and usually a plurality of compounds, which are chelates of lanthanide ions, and there may be one comi ponent, but usually not more than one, which is an organic compound capable. of uorescence under ultraviolet light. Examples are diphenylanthracene or 4,5-diphenylimidazolone-Z. The number of coded symbols possible with a given number of photoluminescent components. is 2n 1, Where n is. the number of components. In other words, with four components iifteen symbols are possible, which permit encoding tenl numerical digits. Readout is effected by illuminating the symbols, one by one, with ultraviolet light, which causes them to fluoresce. The advantages of having one or more chelates of lanthanide ions is that when excited by ultraviolet illumination of suitable Wavelength the lanthanide ions are excited to a metastable state from which they fall back to alower energy level emitting fluorescent light in a very narrow wavelength band. The narrowness of the band is in marked contrast to the rather broader bands of fluorescence of lluorescing organic 3,371,601 Patented Mar. 5, 1968 compounds, which is the reason that generally only one organic uorescer is suitable in any code.

As pointed out in the Halverson and Freeman application above referred to, there are many advantages in the coded ink symbols. For example, the identity of the symbol is in no sense determined by the particular shape of the symbol imprinted, and it may be any arbitrary shape, such as a dot, square, rectangle or the like. This makes it possible to read coded messages, such as for example the numbers of a particular bank account on the edge of a bank check, even though a portion of the area of a symbol may have been torn off. In decoding symbols which have to be read in accordance with their shape. such as those customarily used in magnetic ink for bank. check account identication, if the check is torn oli carelessly a portion of the magnetic symbol may be removed and confusion may result. For example, an 8 may resemble a 9. When coded inks are used, since the shape of the symbol is immaterial, the readout by fluorescent light is more reliable, and where only chelated lanthanide ions are used as symbol components the symbol may be colorless andthe message therefore secret.

It` is of course possible, as is described in the Freeman and Halverson application above referred to, to have the shape of the symbol also printed so that it can be read by visible light. For example, the digit 2` may be printed with the shape of the digit in black or other visible color so that it is also possible to read the message Without the usel of ultraviolet illumination.

The Freeman and' Halverson application also describes the use of the components in the coded inks in different concentrations, which increases the number of symbols from a given number of ink components but only with the loss of the greater sharpness of resolution possible when a particular component is either present or absent.

There has also been described in the co-pending application of Berry, Ser. No. 526,192, filed Feb. 9, 1966, a

Amodification in which components which reflect in visible light are also used, for example black, white, red, green, blue, yellowy (which reflects in both the red and the green), purple (which similarly reilects in both the red and the blue), and where suitable components are availableV also cyan (which reflects both in the blue and green). These visible light components actuate red, green and blue detectors, each detector being limited to a narrow band around its particular color. This permits multiplying the number of symbols for al given number of photoluminescent components by a factor of 7 or 8.

ln all of the coded ink printing of symbols and readouts referred to in the above applications, certain practical problems are encountered. The printingv of a given symbol in a given coded ink must be kept from contamination with other coded inks for diiferent symbols. Otherwisel confusion in readout may result, the uncertainty being somewhat analogous toV noise in an electronic circuit,y and so may be considered as analogous to a decrease in the signal to noise ratio, which is always a problem. When the symbols are Written by hand in the dilferent coded inks, contamination of one ink with components of another presents no problem. However, for many and perhaps even most practical uses for coded ink symbols, mechanical printing by apparatus similar or analogous to typewriters becomes necessary. There is described and claimed in the copending application of Siegel, Ser. No. 526,193, iiled Feb. 9, 1966, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, a method of printing symbols in coded inks mechanically one symbol at a time. This is done by providing a ribbon in the printing or typingV machine having a plurality of horizontal strips, each strip impregnated with or, preferably, carrying a coating of a single photoluminescent component. For example, with six components, which gives 63 symbol possibilities and asnor j is sufficient for the alphabet, numbers, and additional symbols, the number of strips on the ribbon would be six. When the key for a particular symbol on the keyboard is struck, there is actuated a vertical type bar from which portions protrude, each portion being aligned with a particular strip in thel,ribbon. When the bar strikes, there is printed a symbol with tiny vertically disposed stripes, for example minute rectangles, each in the ink of a particular component of the code. If care is taken in maintaining exact alignment of the portions or hammers on the type bar with the strips on the ribbon, rapid and accurate typing of a message in the coded symbols becomes possible and the symbols can be read out by illumination of the message, symbol by symbol, with ultraviolet light.

The Siegel apparatus and method represents a very practical and improved method of printing. However, as in many desirable improved methods for apparatus, it does not represent an ideal in all respects. First, the actuation of the portions of the type bar which protrude requires rather precise mechanical operation if the vertical symbols are to be of a reasonable size. While perfectly practical, the additional complication represents possibilties for malfunction which, as in any machine, increase when the number of operations increases. A second drawback, though a less serious one, is that the coded stripes or rectangles are vertically displaced and therefore a particular symbol has a fairly substantial height, even though the stripes or rectangles may be very small. This limits the number of symbols in a given space. A third failure to achieve the perfect ideal is that it is not practical =to print more than one symbol at a time and this of course places some limit on the speed with which messages can be printed.

Summary of the invention The present invention constitutes an improvement which permits printing a fairly large number of symbols simultaneously on each horizontal line all in a single vertical alignment and does not require a printing ribbon, so that any possible confusion due to slight vertical movements of the ribbon is impossible.

The present invention utilizes with small modifications the rugged and reliable mechanism of the somewhat old- Ifashioned type of printing adding machine. Modified modern electrical printing adding machines with spinning discs may also =be used in the present invention, but peculiarly enough, the complications required for use of the more modern mechanisms make the modified oldfashioned mechanism preferable for the present invention.

The invention will be described very generally first in connection with an old-fashioned printing adding machine and will then be described in more detail in conjunction with the drawings which illustrate the modified structure. The old-fashioned printing adding machine had a keyboard in which digits of a number to be printed were set up by a keyboard which raised type bars, each containing digits, to the height corresponding to the location of a particular digit on the type key. When the number had been set up, a handle was pulled which caused the raised bars to strike the writing surface, such as an adding machine tape, simultaneously. There was no ribbon and the type bars in their rest position contacted a pad having the proper ink impregnated into it. It was possible to print quite a large number of digits simultaneously in a horizontal row. For instance, in the case of an adding machine capable of handling up to a million dollars, there were eight keys andwhen the handle was pulled as many as eight symbols could be printed at once.

The only modifications needed lfor the present invention, except for eliminating the adding mechanism, is a subdivision of vthe inking pad into a number of horizontal strips corresponding to the number of symbols on each key; in the case of numbers, ten narrow strips. A much greater speed of printing is thus made possible, and since the horizontally striped inking pad is a rigid structure against which the bars contact only in their rest position, there is less chance of symbol contamination than in the case of a flexible ribbon. Manual actuation of the printing can of course be done electrically, as occurred in certain transition models from the old reliable manual machine to the modern electrical printing calculating machine. The modern machine utilizes a cylinder formed of a number of discs each carrying ten digits. Actuation of the different digit keys caused respective discs to turn so that the particular digit Was opposite the line of printing. Then when the adding or subtracting button was pressed, the whole cylinder moved forward with the discs turned for the appropriate digits and printed through a ribbon. In adding machines where a single color, or at most two colors-red and black, were needed, this construction was preferred and most modern electrical machines are of this design. While it is possible, and will be mentioned below as one modification of the present invention, to utilize pad inking the additional complications and increased size of machine made it desirable in printing calculators to go back to the ribbon method.

Brief description of the drawings FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of five type keys in contact with an inking pad of ten strips, each carrying a particular coded ink;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of a mechanism just before the moment of imprinting, and

FIG. 3 is a view, partly broken away, of the whole machine.

Description of the preferred embodiments The drawings illustrate a machine for printing numbers which requires ten digits, and therefore coded inks of four different components suflice. The invention is not limited to this simpler machine but can use machines with a larger number of symbols. However, the operation is exactly the same and the smaller number of symbols permits drawings which are clearer and less complicated. It should be understood, of course, that the invention is not limited to a purely numerical machine.

In FIG. 1 five type bars are shown with spacings between them grossly exaggerated for clarity. The five bars are numbered 10 to 14 and are pressed against an inking pad shown generally at 15 with a series of 10 strips labelled 1 to 0 to correspond to the digits in the same position on the bars 10 to 14. The strips are separated by rigid separators 16, which may be of metal, plastic and the like, so that component for one strip cannot wander over into an adjacent strip, Each strip of course is impregnated or coated with a coded ink having the proper distribution of components for the particular digits. When the type bars 10 to 14 are in contact with the pad, as shown in FIG. 1, it will be apparent that each digit on each bar is coated with the particular coded ink corresponding to it and with no other.

The remainder of the description of the instrument will be in connection with the description of the operation of the machine in referring to FIGS. 3, 1 and 2. FIG. 3 shows a keyboard cover 17, which is partly broken away, with tive rows of keys A, B, C, D and E. In each row there are ten keys 20 to 29. They will be shown numbered only for row E, but when referred to in connection with any of the rows will be followed by the letter designating the particular row in which the key is located. The keys actuate levers 30 to 39 respectively, which will also be described for a particular key in connection with the row letter.

The operation will first be described in relatively simple form involving only two rows D and E for printing the message eighty. Key 28D is depressed and its lever 38D selects the particular digit on the type bar 13. 'I'his selection is by conventional adding machine design and is, therefore, not specifically shown. It should be. noted that the key and its. lever selects the digit butv does not move any type bar at this time.. Next the key 20E is: depressed and its lever 30E selects the appropriate digit on type bar 14. If a tive digit message isr to be eventually encoded, which will usually be the case, the chosen key in each of the rows A, B, and C will bey depressed and will operate in accordance with the same pattern just described..

The print key 18 is then depressed, and this causes the following sequence of operations, actuation being by conventional adding machine electronic means, (not shown). The iirst operation moves the pad as a unit horizontally out of contact with the type bars. This leaves each digit on each type bar coated with its own coded ink andy no other. The next operation is to raise the type bars the distances selected by the type key levers so that the corresponding digit on each type bar is in printing position. In the case of the message 80 referred to above, type bar 13 is raised eight levels and the type bar 14 ten levels. This alignment appears in FIGS. 2 and 3'.

Turning to FIGS. 2 and l, it will be seen thatl each digit on its own hammer is pressed by its individual' spring which is what forces it into contact with its particular inking pad strip in resting. position. Each. type face extends. through its spring 20, the back of' its type bar being developed into an anvil 21. This is best illustrated for type 4 in bar 14 in FIG. l, the bar being broken away to show the organization of the various elements. This is a standard design for commercal adding machines and is therefore shown in the drawings semi-diagrammatically. There is for each type bar a conventional hammer 22. As the design of the hammer is not changed by the present invention, only the ends of the hammers for type bars 13 and 14 are shown in FIG. 2. The hammers are, of course, aligned opposite printing position.

The third operation which is initiated by the key 18 is to cause the hammers 22 for each type bar corresponding to a row in which a key has been depressed to strike the corresponding anvil 21. FIG. 2, which is illustrating the same message 80 as has been described for FIG. 3, shows only the hammers for type bars 13 and 14 moving forward. With the normal message in which all five rows would be used, of course live hammers would move forward. The hammers striking the anvils cause the corresponding type faces to move forward and to print on the paper 19 on the machine platen 23. As soon as printing has been effected the release of key 18 causes the platen to turn up one line, the type bars drop to their rest position, and the pad 15 is once more moved to press against the type faces. The above sequence is then repeated for the next line. The description of the various operations initiated by the printing key 18 has been separated into operations for clarity. Actually, of course, these operations follow each other in extremely rapid sequence. Of course in an actual machine as has been mentioned above, the type bars 10 to 14 are very closely spaced instead of separated in an exaggerated manner as shown in the drawings.

If the invention is to be used in printing a large number of ident-ical messages, for example account numbers on a number of bank checks, a separate key 40 is used which does not clear the keyboard after printing as does key 18 but moves the platen of the machine up the requisite distance for aligning the next check or document on which the coded message is to be printed and repeats the operation as long as there are checks to be imprinted or for the number of times selected by a selecting dial (not shown). As the programming of a number of operations to be repeated is effected in numerous types of electrical typing or printing mechanisms, the circuits and elements moving the platen are not shown on the drawings as they are not changed by the present invention.

For some purposes it is desired to print relatively long horizontal messages, and for this purpose the machine can be modified by substituting an electric typewriter carriage for the adding machine platenv illustrated in the drawings. Of course the release of printing key 1,8 in such a case will cause the carriage to be moved horizontally the number of spaces required.

In the drawings it will be noted that the digits are printed in their normal shape and each strip from 0 to 9 on the pad also carries some black pigment so that what is printed is the shape of the symbol both in black, which can be read visually, and in the coded ink, which is read out byilluminating withy ultraviolet light in the manner described in the Halverson and Freeman application referred to above. The present invention is. directed only to the novel method and apparatus for printing the symbols and not to the readout with ultraviolet light and the suitable spectrally selective fluorescent light detectors. The readout'is not changed by the present invention except that of course the number of fluorescent light detectors must be suticient forthe. number of symbols which the machine of they present invention is set up to print. If it is desired to have a secret message, there will be no printing of symbols in their shapes and the type bars may, therefore, have simple` rectangles, circles, or other shapes at the proper vertical` separation to. effect printing.

Reference has been made above to the preference in the present invention of the raised type bar type of printing calculator even though this represents an obsolete or obsolescent form for ordinary calculators. If a modern electrical calculator with a cylindrical type bar made up of a number of discs is used, a much larger cylinder is necessary because of course it is not very practical, although not impossible, to provide a pad with strips of different coded inks which would surround a cylinder. Very elaborate mechanism would be necessary as the cylinder would have to be moved out laterally before it printed and generally if a multiple disc type of type bar is used, it is simpler to have a larger diameter with the digits or other symbols only on about half of it, which can =be in contact with a curved, zoned pad. The bar can then be raised and struck. Because of this additional cornplexity, the modern multiple disc type bar calculators have used the ribbon method of printing which is not contemplated by the present invention. However, the essence of the present invention is that the type bar, or separate type bars in the preferred form, is in contact with the corresponding zones of an inking pad when at rest and is separated from Ithe pad and struck against the surface on which to be printed. Various shapes of type bars and various striking mechanisms are included in the broader aspects of the present invention, the drawings illustrating only one typical simple device but without limiting the invention to the details thereof.

The present invention is concerned with apparatus for printing symbols and it is not concerned with the particular code or the particular coded inks used. Reference has been made to coded inks using photoluminescent components and this is a very suitable type of coded ink for use in the present invention, which however is not limited thereto.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for impressing a plurality of symbols in coded inks on a surface carried by a surface holder or carriage comprising,

(a) multiple type bars each carrying the symbols to be imprinted in horizontal lines when the type bars are at rest,

(b) a zoned inking pad having a horizontal zone for each symbol aligned with the corresponding symbol on the ltype bars at rest and in contact therewith, each zone being inked with a coded ink comprising at least one coding component which photoluminesce under ultraviolet light, each zone being inked with a different coded ink and the particular coding components comprised in each ink corresponding to the code for the symbol in contact with the zone when the typed bars are at rest,

(c) means for sequentially moving the type bars first out of Icontact with the inking pad and then to position ythe bars so that the selected symbols are in a line,

(d) means for causing the type bars after positioning, simultaneously to strike the surface and to imprint a line ofthe preselected symbols.

2. A machine according to claim 1 in which the type bars are parallel with the symbols aligned on each bar vertically and rthe means for selecting the particular symbol is a means for raising the type bar so that the type bars will present the selected symbols in a horizontal line.

3. A machine according to claim 1 in which the symbols are of recognizable shapes corresponding to the symbol and the coded ink zones on the pad each also contain a component which reflects in the visible light whereby the symbols are printed both in coded ink and at the same time in shapes which are visible.

4. A machine according to claim 2 in which the symbols are of recognizable shapes corresponding to the symbol and the coded ink zones on the pad each also contain a component which reflects in the visible light whereby the symbols are printed both in coded ink and at the same time in shapes which are visible.

5. A process of printing symbols in coded ink on a surface which comprises coating symbols on a plurality of type `bars at rest, each symbol being coated in its coded ink, the coded inks being different for each symbol and containing one or more coding components which photoluminesce under ultraviolet illumination, rthe particular components constituting the code for the symbol, selectively moving the symbols into a pre-selected horizontal alignment and causing them to strike rthe surface whereby the symbols are simultaneously printed.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 676,083 6/1901 Bates 101--202 X `1,151,963 8/1915 Ocumpaugh 101-99 1,508,532 9/1924 Quentell 101--94 1,959,186 5/'1934 Welter 101-19 2,299,242 10/ 1942 Lui 101-202 X 2,307,669 l/l943 Crosman lOl-94 2,314,828 3/ 1943 Humphries 101--334 2,845,023 7/ 1958 Switzer lOl-426 3,064,560 1l/1962 Perry et al 101-269 3,082,171 3/1963 Shoemaker lOl-149.2 X

WILLIAM B. PENN, Primary Examiner. 

